Happy New Year 2024, which we have decided to dedicate to launching new tools for the benefit of our companies. We anticipate that this one will also be one of the many years of crisis, but this time embellished with double elections for the president and the parliament of the state. At the ECNM, all our members are still with us, which means none have left, and many others are joining. This will continue as long as we remain the avant-garde of the chamber system and continue to offer new opportunities. Therefore, it is worthwhile to participate in these processes and for each of us become part of the Chamber of the Future.

1.     Today (15 January), we are opening this new year of 2024 in which we will completely transform the Chamber. We are establishing the Center for Micro-, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises, and on 18 January, we will welcome the Chamber of Trade Companies for Geodetic Works, which is completely transitioning from MCC to the ECNM. The cycle will be closed with an event to promote the establishment of the Circular Economy Center.

2.     Meanwhile, a summit of leaders from the six Western Balkan countries will be held in Skopje, where the economic development plan prepared by the European Union will be discussed. For the first time, the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF) is included as an entity participating in its conceptualization, which is a great success for us who are key members of this institution.

3.     By the end of the month, we will publish a book on the strategic documents issued by the Chamber in the past period, which form the foundational principles of any modern economy. These documents are practical proof of our institution's capacity, which is currently one of the most significant in the country. It all began in 2010 with the formulation of a new economic development model that guaranteed growth of 5% to 7%, if fully implemented.

4.     On 31 January, the ongoing cooperation with the Rectorate of the Skopje University will continue, and the rectors of several other state universities will join us.

5.     As you all know, this year we are presiding over the Association of Balkan Chambers (ABC). The agenda for this year's activities is already prepared and will start this month with a press conference announcing the activities for the first quarter of this year, focusing on the infrastructure connectivity of the Balkans, which will be professionally and thoroughly analyzed. The World Bank, the EBRD, and the European Transport Community will be our partners in this process, with whom we will have meetings in February, and in March, we will organize a large gathering of 10 Balkan leaders in one of the countries with the best infrastructure solution for business.

6.     I would like to express special thanks to Safet Gërxhaliu, the former president of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, who came to Macedonia on his own initiative, without our knowledge, and gave several interviews to the Albanian-language media, where he spoke about the reputation of our institution when we were unfoundedly attacked.

 So, we "continue at full speed," just like in the last quarter of last year, about which we will provide a retrospective of events through brief media story.

The tradition of jointly celebrating birthdays continued with the owner of IGM Trade, Ilija Gechev, and our Chamber emblem was an essential decoration on the celebratory cake.

In the last quarter of 2023, I made many public appearances, which significantly increased interest in the work of the Chamber, taking a huge step forward. This trend will continue this year.

This month, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski will step down from his position in accordance with the Przhino Accord. During his term, we had intensive communications and contacts, but also many differing views on current economic developments. For the first time, perhaps, an atmosphere was created where everyone could fully express their opinions, which is a step forward in building relationships between the public and private sectors.

It feels good when you can share moments with some of the chamber staff, now retirees (such as Belinda Minovska), with smiles and cheerfulness after many years of joint collaboration.

At the end of last year, there were also tough discussions with the Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi, but even in those, there were moments of relaxed behavior, together with the directors of Eurotabak and LION from Sveti Nikole.